Man gets max for hitting girlfriend

Wednesday

VICTORVILLE — A 43-year-old Apple Valley man was sentenced to nine years in prison for hitting his girlfriend — the maximum sentence allowed by law, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Jeffrey Thomas was convicted in August of inflicting corporal injury and causing great bodily injury on his girlfriend, Joyce Barnes. During the trial, Thomas' attorney argued that he acted in self-defense when Barnes began clawing at him and he pushed her back causing her to fall and hit her head.

Deputy District Attorney David Foy said that Barnes couldn't testify during trial because she was in the hospital for an acute sinus infection, but decided to continue with prosecution anyway.

Initially Thomas turned down Foy's offer of serving two years at 50 percent of the time. Now he will have to serve 85 percent of his nine-year sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge John Tomberlin.

"The judge imposed the right sentence," Foy said. "It reflects the severe injuries and great violence the defendant committed on the victim and the defendant's terrible record, which includes a felony domestic violence conviction."

In 1993, the defendant had felony convictions for commercial burglary, possession of a controlled substance for sale and possession of a controlled substance.

Foy said that Thomas submitted a letter to the court saying that on one hand he was sorry for what he did, but that he still felt that he was acting in self-defense.